June 19, 2007

Obama just finished, is shaking hands. John Edwards speaks next. Obama will be a tough act to follow...

Former NARAL Head Kate Michelman introduces Edwards. You are going to make the difference in this election in 2008. You are at the center of historic change.

I know these candidates as people I have worked with many years. I know what they say in private and what they do in public. I've known John Edwards for ite a while now. Watching him commit himself to leading on all the issues that I know you value. Johns Edwards is ready to lead, willing to lead, ready for change. I am ready for change, are you ready for change? Politics of conviction and principle.

Edwards comes on stage. People standing and cheering...

Thank you for your support of my wife Elizabeth.

I want to start taloing about the ar in Iraq because we need to bring this war to an end. I voted for this war and I was wrong to vote for this war and I take responsibility for that.

Now we are at a crucial moment. The American people made it clear, they want a change and they want to see America leaving Iraq. President vetoed our bill. Congress should have stood firm but didn't, the President has no intention of ending this war. Congress has to end this war.

No more pontificating, triangulating, pontificating, broken promises. No more "tomorrow." We need to do these things now. Health care. be bold, have backbone, courage, it is time for us to lead again. It is time for us to show the leadership that America and the world need from us. We need to establish America as a force for good in the world again. I will close Guantanamo.

First we must stop the damage. We need a President who will say we are against torture, spying on Americans, follow the Geneva Conventions... This has to change. President has to travel the world, speak to the people of the world, about the things we really are. Diversity.

World believes we are at war with the Muslim world. That has got to change. It has got to end. World needs to see America taking action that demonstrates that we understand out responsibility to humanity. Darfur, the most powerful nation has declared that a genocide is occurring, and stepped back and watched it continue. Same is true about spread of AIDS. Richest nation on planet stands quietly by and watches it continue.

America is better than this. World needs to see who we are.

Suppose America led the effort toward economic development especially in the third world. Hope is back again. America cannot be a leader through raw power. Demonstrate that we are worthy of leadership.

We have a crisis on tis planet - global warming. We can be an example for got, not for bad. We're the worst polluter on the planet. What do we do? We ought to cap greenhouse emissions, ratchet down, reduce at least 80% by 2050. ANY allowance to emit gases must be auctioned off and the money used to develop alternative technologies. No coal-fired power plants to be built. America should lead the way building fuel-efficient cars with union workers, not built somewhere else.

Time for President to ask Americans to be patriotic about something other than war - conserve, drive fuel-efficient vehicles, get off our addiction to oil. Create green-power jobs.

We can transform the Middle East. Get off of oil. We will undermine the forces of despair.

America has to be seen as a force for good again. 27 million Americans wake up worried about feeding their own children. I have been running a poverty center at the University of North Carolina. In Kansas City I met a woman who worked for $9.50 an hour. Didn't have the money to pay her heating bill. Wrapped my kids in warm close. Had my kids get in the same bed and hug each other to keep warm. Tells them not to tell anyone because they'll come and take them away from her. This is not OK, there is something we can do about it. Decent living wage. Expand right of workers to organize a union. If you can join the Republican Party by signing your name to a card, anyone should be able to join a union the same way. Unions lift people out of poverty.

Need universal health care for every an woman and child in the country. People wake up at night with a sick child, go to the emergency room and beg for health care.

But can't do all that and eliminate the deficit - it costs money. Not cheap. Pay for it by getting rid of Bush's tax cuts for the rich.

We ended war in Vietnam, ended apartheid in South Africa, you can feel it across the country. Your country needs you to take responsibility, take action.

This is my life and I'm going to do it as long as I am alive and breathing. What are you willing to do? How umch are you willing to do? How much do you love this country. You have to be the change you believe in. We need you. If you want to live in a moral and just America, where everybody has a real chance. We have to do this together.

tba2007

Posted by Dave Johnson at June 19, 2007 9:41 AM

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